Kanji-Human Relation-Ancestor 祖

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Illustration and voice by Shou YukiyaDownload the copybook for this Kanji

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How to remember?

Originally, the ネ part is related to God and the 且 part is the pictograph of male genital. Ancient China was a paternal (and still is) society, so people used the male genital to represent their ancestors. And because they worshipped their ancestors as gods, this Kanji has a radical ネ.

If you think that using a penis as mnemonics is offensive, then I recommend imagining that the 且 part is a tombstone and the ネ part is someone paying homage, as shown in the illustration.